Lost Memories, New Horizons
by Mojo1586
Summary: Waking up in a city with no idea how he got there, a lone Huntsman must figure out his past and move ahead to the future with the help of friends made along the way. [OC/Blake Belladonna]
1. Chapter 1

(Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or its characters, they belong to Monty Oum of Roosterteeth Productions, those characters you see not from the show like the main character are my own OCs for the purpose of the story. Enjoy) - Mojo1586

HARD FALLS & ROUGH MEETINGS

-?-

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!" Not the most well-mannered series of thoughts I'd had since this all started but hell, considering the situation I was in. I was probably screaming, I say probably because with the wind roaring past my ears I couldn't be certain. Man that forest is really getting close, damn it how'd I get into this.

(Hours earlier)

I was alone with darkness on all sides with no idea how I'd gotten there, looking down I saw I was wearing what looked like a stained, tattered dress shirt and black trousers with numerous tears. Before I could do more than register the strange attire a bright light split the dark, so intense it forced me to shield my eyes with my arm. As it died down I could just make out the silhouette of a feminine figure in a flowing blue dress though I noticed the quality of her clothes were little better than my own. "Hey who are y…"

"I'm sorry" The girl said, her voice light and airy with a strange otherworldly quality to it. Suddenly the light flashed again with even greater force blinding me completely, "I'm so sorry" the voice said again somberly, before I felt a sudden shooting pain in the back of my skull.

My eyes sprang open as I found myself sitting my back against a wall in dark, trash filled alley, Looking around I could now make out the sound of vehicles and civilization through a searing pain in my head. As my vision focused I could make out 3 figures, one of whom seemed to have been crouched over me before leaping back at my sudden awareness. Unfortunately for my headache, he shouted out to the others.

"Shit! Val, he's waking up!" From what I could make out the shouting pale skinned youth was short but stocky, and had what seemed to be bear ears, and the tall figure he was talking to had curled horns coming out of the sided of his head. I couldn't think, my mind was misted over, however a single shred of information surfaced through the haze, Faunus. The horned figure cursed and shoved the bear Faunus to the side and moving to stand over me before growling at me in a deep voice. He was tall with curly red hair and a cruel smile

"Sorry "friend" but you've woken up at a bad time, we were just gonna rob you blind while you were layin there unconscious, you having all those fun little accessories there" He gestured towards the ground near my foot where a large pistol lay discarded, it seemed of fine quality with flowing designs along the sides of the barrel and a small engraving on the handle. Why would I have something like that? "Now we need to make sure you don't talk, plus you humans owe us some compensation for how you treat us so think of it as retribution for your whole pompous race.

"Val, I don't think we should mess with this human." The bear-eared one said nervously, the third figure nodded in agreement, this one seemed to have scales around his eyes through a shock of lanky dark dreadlocks, which glowed yellowish and reptilian in the dark night.

"Bjorn's right, with gear like this he's probably a Huntsman, or at least a student up at Beacon, not some nobody, they might not like us messing with him."

The bear, Bjorn, shivered looking nervously at me, "We don't want Huntsmen and Huntresses on us do we? Let's just leave him." Val turned on them both, a look of anger shooting across his face.

"Who cares" He snarled breathily advancing on the now cowering pair, "No one will find us, and a weapon like that's got to be worth a fortune if we pawn it not to mention the whatever else he might have on him." I shook my head trying to clear it. I could feel something pressing into my back, I reached over my shoulder to check and found what felt like a ridged metal tube strapped to some sort of sheath, why do I have this?

The group seemed ready to argue even more when I made my way shakily to a standing position, well, a leaning position anyway, facing the thugs. "Hey!" Val turned to face me in response to my feeble shout. I continued on "What's going on, where am I, what am I doing here, answer me?!" The Faunus looked at me with a look of surprise crossing his face before laughing out loud at my feeble attempt to seem threatening.

"Don't know, don't care human." He said derisively advancing on me; I tried to back away clumsily. "Found you just lying against the wall while we were messing around, thought you were some drunk but it seems your more messed up then that." He cracked his knuckles before striking me across the face with a quick left, causing me to stagger back. "Don't worry though, you won't have to worry for long." Came at me again fast, fist raised for another punch when I felt a sudden surge of confidence. In one quick motion, as if on reflex my body moved forward towards him, bringing my left arm up to harmlessly deflect the punch while my right shot out to grab the Faunus by the neck. Val looked quite a bit stronger than I did but I was taller and had longer reach. I used my leg to sweep his feet out from under him using my momentum to bring him to the ground on his back hard, knocking the wind out of him. I stood up giving him a swift but harsh kick to the side of his head, breaking his horn, he cried out in fear and pain, writhing and whimpering on the ground clutching at the injury. I moved towards the other two only stopping to scoop up the gun, it was apparently mine after all. I was in shock, having no idea how I'd just done that whole maneuver, the other two looked just as surprised as I was. I pointed the gun at Bjorn, "You, you're going to answer some questions for me, simple answers, clear as you can, or you end up worse than your friend here. Understand!"

The youth looked at the scaled one in fear before nodding quickly in reply, "Yeah whatever you want, please just don't hurt us Mr. Huntsman sir, we didn't mean anything by it, it was Val's idea, me an Adder were just following along." His partner was shaking his head also but paled as I pointed the gun in his direction.

"I don't want excuses, I want answers, give me that and you can go, all of you, now I'll ask again, Where. Am. I?"

The Faunus gave me a quizzical look, but a glare from me had him stammering out a reply, "You're in Vale City, commercial district, in the kingdom of Vale, Continent of Vytal." He gave me another strange look as if he thought this ought to have been obvious but soon switched back to fear as I frowned. I wasn't focused on him though, my mind trying to process this, Vale? Vytal? I knew I knew the terms; it was strange, I recalled only short bits of relevant information with the bulk of it slipping back into the recesses of my mind when I tried to draw more.

"What am I doing here?" I asked him, putting the memories aside for later.

"It's like Val said pretty much, we don't know, we found you here while we were walking around." He looked nervous but I "politely" encouraged him to continue "We're part of a small group operating in this area, we shake down humans who we can get alone, and you just seemed like an easy target, lone human knocked down alone in a dark alley." The boy shrugged.

I could have pressed more but they genuinely didn't seem to know anything, this was just wasting time. "You mentioned something about Huntsmen and Beacon or something, what does that mean?"

The scaly one piped up at that one, "Huntsman and Huntresses are warriors who fight monsters." Suddenly an intense memory came to the front, monsters everywhere, blood, screams, howls, I grabbed my head snarling at the sudden influx of images.

"Grimm" The memory was gone as soon as it had come almost without a trace, whatever these Grimm creatures were, I knew I wanted them dead, why was irrelevant.

The Faunus still looked nervous at my sudden outburst but continued on, "Yeah the creatures of Grimm, the Huntsman and Huntresses fight them, we thought judging by your equipment you must have been one of them, or a student at Beacon." Seeing my confusion he elaborated, "Beacon Academy, big training school for them, very popular round here but trouble for us."

"Where is Beacon?" I asked quickly, might as well start there, these three obviously had thought there was a connection, might be worth looking into. The two quickly relayed directions to the place, it didn't seem too hard to follow, it appeared to be a well-known landmark. "Alright pick up your friend and get out of here before I change my mind. The two edged around me and started dragging Val away, the thug turned back to look at me, eye full of hate.

"Bastard, I see you again, your dead, you hear me dead!" He shouted before his buddies dragged him off. I slumped against the wall again in relief, I had never intended to kill them but they didn't have to know that, judging by the weight the gun wasn't even loaded. Suckers, I thought laughing to myself as I examined the weapon, the design was incredibly detailed, with the word "Chance" engraved on the handle in flowing script. I shrugged and placed the mysterious weapon in a holster strapped to my left thigh, from what I could see I had numerous bits of ammo strapped to my belt, no idea what those would do until I actually used the weapon.

Now onto the hard part, I walked out of the alley, opposite the way the thugs had gone, no sense in inviting trouble. I found myself in a somewhat bustling cityscape, cars and the casual passerby moved past. I got some strange looks from some of them; guess they heard what was going on in the alleyway and thought I was trouble. Curious I looked at my reflection in a shop glass. Standing at a little over 6 feet, my hair was brown and cut somewhat short with a few white streaks and patches accompanying a pair of bright blue eyes. Now that I knew what I looked like I turned to what I was wearing. A worn blue sleeveless accompanied by black jeans along with a hooded jacket with a strange symbol on the back, a blue circle with a black crescent moon surrounded by eight triangular spikes, ok, weird but serviceable. Add the holstered gun at my leg and the strap holding the sheathed tube which I now saw was blue with silver ridges spaced evenly along the shaft ending In tow thick weights at the end, I put the length of it at about 2 feet long. I wanted to take it out and see what, if anything, it did but considering I was in a city street partially surrounded by groups of people, probably not the best idea, resolving to look into it later I moved on.

I'd been walking about an hour when I found myself on a large main street, I saw two girls standing back to back, one about my age approximately (no idea on that front) with flowing long blonde hair wearing a tan vest and a black pleated skirt and a slightly younger dark-red headed looking girl in a black dress with a long red hooded cloak. The two were surrounded by around a dozen men in business suits and red glasses packing swords and axes and moving threateningly towards them. "You're the red girl who interfered with our dust robbery a few days back?" One of the bigger thugs, probably the leader of the group, asked with a short grin. "Mr. Torchwick wants you dealt with to keep you from messing with our business, you Jr. Huntresses aren't leaving this street walking."

Huntresses? That caught my interest.

"Your boss must still be hiring after what I did to the last group, still not enough though." The young girl taunted the group. Brave kid.

Looking at the girls more closely I could see that the younger one had a strange looking case hanging from the back of her hip, some kind of weapon? Either way they would possibly need help dealing with these guys despite what the girl had said, even if they didn't they were huntresses, which meant they could help me get to Beacon afterwards, two birds, one stone.

"Wow, she's got a point you know, this many to take on two girls, really?" I called out loudly getting the attention of everyone present, the girls looked surprised, the leader just looked angry at the intrusion. I continued "I could understand if you were taking on a puppy or maybe the elderly with twelve, but two teenage girls with these numbers, come on you guys." The blonde grinned at my words.

The leader turned to me hefting his axe witch I noticed unlike the others, was much more ornate and double edged. He challenged me "You have a death wish punk?"

I shrugged, and gestured to the whole scene, "Just saying you must, especially now that I'm here, that's three vs twelve, very bad odds for you." I grinned.

"You three with me…" He pointed out some of the bigger guys in his group, "The rest of you deal with those two." As they started advancing on me I thought about going for my gun but my body went for the tube on my back instead, as I held it outward suddenly I almost could hear a song playing in my head as a bluish energy ran down my arm into the metal object, which suddenly reacted, extending automatically out of both sides into a long blue quarter staff about as tall as I was, weighted ends gracing both sides. Silver designs ran over the metal of the shaft in twisting patterns. Nice I thought, but how do I…, suddenly my body reacted yet again spinning the weapon in a twisting series of spins, "Fortune" a word suddenly freed itself from my mind as I entered a guarded stance with the weapon, nice, I'll take it. I could tell that the goons the leader had with him were nervous. "Run now and I won't chase you." I reassured them, "Probably save you some pain in the long run." Sadly they didn't listen as two of them ran at me with swords. Strangely enough, I was hardly afraid, I just seemed to know how to beat them, how to fight.

I knocked the first ones blade away with a simple parry with one end of the staff, and in the same motion brought the other end into the side of his head, dropping him to the ground. The second went down barely a second later with a quick leg sweep and a smack to the head while he was down. The third turned to run away straight into his leader's outstretched arm dropping him with a sickening crack, he shook his head then looked at me, "Good help is so hard to find." He raised the large axe up one handed, pointing it towards me, I just entered another guard stance, this guy was no joke.

He smiled wildly and leapt up into the air right at me, axe poised for an overhead cut, I made to block but thought better of it, jumping to the side in a quick roll to dodge at the last second. The axe came down with an explosive crash and cleaved a good patch of the pavement in two; he dislodged the large blade and readied himself for another leap, before he could however I was on him, for a big guy he was fast but I moved faster, I barely remembered running at him it happened so fast. Considering the man had broken the street I was also somehow overpowering him, Fortune twisting in my hands to batting away strikes that looked as if they were coming in slow motion, all while lashing out at him like a living creature landing blow after heavy blow, the song in my head ringing loudly. As the song reached its crescendo, with a sudden grab and twist of the staff, I pulled the axe from his grasp while simultaneously pulling out the pistol and driving the barrel into his throat. "How did you…" the man barely had time to stammer before I knocked him out with a quick pistol whip.

"How's right" I looked down in surprise, I didn't have a scratch on me, though I knew I'd taken at least a few hits from that axe, I should have had at least a few cuts, the leader however was one big bruise lying on the pavement. "Didn't know I could hit that hard, wonder if… oh crap!" The two Huntresses, I spun around cursing myself for focusing too much on the fight and momentarily forgetting about them. Fortunately it seemed like they didn't need my help after all their fight well in hand, the girl with the red cloak was flying around spinning a scythe larger than she was, all while the blonde fought off her opponents with a pair of gauntlets, knocking men through the air with a series of literally explosive punches, some kind of gun in the gauntlets? After a relatively short time the two Huntresses stood above several groaning forms. The younger girls scythe transforming back into the red case-like object I'd seen her carrying earlier.

"Well that was fun ending to the night." The blonde said offhand stretching out her back, arms above her head, "Nothing like a good workout after a night on the town, Ruby get the police on call, and have them come out here." she gazed over in my direction noticing I'd finished my fight as well "Hey you, thanks for the help back there." She shouted over to where I was standing.

I waved away the thanks as I approached holstering the gun, "No prob, don't think you guys needed it though anyway, you seem like you guys can handle yourself in a fight well enough."

"Maybe, but thanks anyway for distracting their leader though, if he'd been involved we might have been in trouble." The red cloaked girl said shaking her head quickly, "I saw some of your fight, how you dodged then pow, wham and then he…with that staff oh can I see it please?!" she went on making moves and motions imitating how I fought making noises out of some Kung-Fu movie and looking at the weapon with a look of longing until the older one stepped in front of her sighing in exasperation before offering me her hand.

"What she's trying to say is you're really good in a fight, names Yang by the way, Yang Xiao Long, and this is my dramatic, weapon obsessed little sister Ruby Rose. What's yours?"

Name, what was my name? I mentally kicked myself for not thinking about that earlier, I was too busy walking through streets and thinking about what I was going to do when I made it to Beacon. "Actually your guess is as good as mine on that score to be honest." I said with a shrug as I shook her hand, she gave me a quizzical look.

"What? Did you forget it or something?" she asked jokingly with a laugh which died as she saw the look on my face. "Wait, seriously?" she said with a shocked look.

I rubbed the back of my head with my free hand a bit embarrassed, "Yeah actually I just woke up in an alley about an hour ago, I can barely remember anything before that just bits and flashes."

"So what about those moves with the staff?" Ruby gestured to the weapon I was still holding. "Is that the same thing?"

"I'm not too sure on that count myself, it's like I know exactly what I'm doing, even though I can't remember how I know it, it's hard to explain, it just comes and goes."

"So you can't remember anything about yourself, name, where you came from, stuff like that?" Yang asked inquisitively looking me over. "Have you checked your pockets?"

"My pockets?" I cocked an eyebrow.

Ruby nodded her head, "Yeah like in the movies. You check your pockets just in case you might be carrying something, a wallet, something like that to help you work out what you were doing before you forgot."

I looked at the pair of them with a stupid look on my face, wow that seemed totally obvious now that they'd said it. I am really bad at this whole amnesia thing. Rifling through my pockets I brought out a few random coins, a key with no inscription on it, a gum wrapper, some mints, and a crumpled up piece of paper. Unfurling it I found that it was a note of some kind.

-Joel

They're meeting at the arranged place, this is the last time I'm helping you, leave me out of this. -N

"Joel huh?" Yang said reading the paper over my shoulder, "Strange note, wonder who "they" are. Sounds ominous, they didn't even sign their name."

"Whatever it was or who these people are I don't remember any of it, though it isn't a total loss, at least I have a name now." I said with a small sigh, Joel, no last name but it was a start.

"Well Joel now that's settled, is there anything else we can help you with? Ruby asked sympathetically. Suddenly I remembered what I was supposed to be doing.

"Actually yes there is" I said quickly placing the note back in my pocket, "That guy said you were Huntresses, that true?"

"Yes, well, more like Huntresses in training really" Ruby said enthusiastically, "Why do you ask?"

"Well I just wanted to know if you knew anything about Beacon Academy, I was heading there before I came across all this."

"Yeah we're students there, we just finished our first week and we were out celebrating when loser and his gang showed up." Yang kicked one of the thugs who looked to be stirring on the ground eliciting a fresh moan from the man.

"Well some guys I talked with said I was outfitted like a huntsman or at least a student there, it's my only real direction at the moment so I thought it was a good idea to check out." Yang nodded in agreement.

"Well you definitely fight like one though I'd have remembered seeing someone like you walking around, our headmaster might be able to help you though, and if you want we can take you to him."

"Yes thank you guys so much." I said gratefully, bowing my head.

Yang smiled, turning back to Ruby, "Hey sis, mind waiting for the cops, they'll need someone to let them know what happened and I can take him back on Bumblebee." Ruby looked a little annoyed but agreed to stay behind. "Oh and by the way" she pointed at the staff I was still holding "You'll probably need to put that away"

"Oh, yeah sure, give me a sec" I looked up and down the length of the weapon, I'd been to distracted earlier to notice what I'd done to activate it in the first place. Now that I was looking however I noticed a series of buttons and switches along the length of the weapon, accessible for when I was fighting but small enough that they wouldn't interfere with my movements. "Wonder what else this thing can do." I muttered pressing the most prominent button causing the staff to retract in on itself once again. I noticed Ruby shooting quick glances at it as I moved to place it in its hilt. "You know what here." I tossed the tube to Ruby who caught it with a shocked look on her face. "Hang on to this for me would you?"

"Really" a look of excitement crossed the young girls features as she gazed down at the weapon in her hands.

"Just to give you something to do while you wait, let me know what other little tricks it can do." I wasn't completely sure the girl could hear me at this point as she began examining some of the buttons closely, brow furrowing in concentration. Yang gave me a quick smile and motioned for me to follow her.

Yang led me to a street a short way away from the scene of the fight where a yellow motorcycle stood perfectly balanced next to the curb. "Thanks for letting her borrow your stick thing, you didn't have too" she said suddenly.

"It's no trouble, I could tell it was eating at her and I don't need it right now." I said shaking my head. "So when you said she was weapon obsessed..."

"Yeah I meant it, Ruby's always had issues with meeting new faces, so she tends to use the weapons they fight with as a way of getting to know them. She says that they're an extension of who we are. It's just how she's always been." She sighed "She's been getting better at it but..."

"I understand" I interrupted quickly "Don't worry we all have our ways of dealing with people."

"Just wanted to let you know I appreciate it, and I'm sure she does too."

Yang stroked the bike lovingly before putting on a helmet as well as a pair of goggles. As she mounted the bike she turned towards me with an apologetic look. "Sorry I don't have a helmet in your size."

"It's alright, my brains messed up as it is anyway, a head injury can't do much worse" I said with a quick laugh, I Got on the bike behind her and hesitated slightly before wrapping my arms around her waist, blushing slightly. She gave me another one of her quick grin before stating up the engine "Hold on tight okay" she called back, kick starting the engine.

"Sure thing." I replied quickly as we began moving through the crowded streets. As I held on for dear life as Yang dodged and weaved through traffic eliciting shouts and honks as we zoomed by, all while trying to keep Yang's cascade of hair out of my face I grinned. Things are finally starting to look up for me.

(Present)

Yeah, definitely looking up huh, I thought dryly as the forest beneath me drew steadily closer. Yeah this is gonna hurt, well Joel, welcome to Beacon.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Forest Awaits**

**-Joel-**

"So it's too late to meet with Professor Ozpin right now. You can stay in our room and we can check in the morning okay." Yang called back as we walked down the dormitory hallways.

"Thats alright, though you're part of a team right?" I asked looking around at the arched stone walls, Beacon academy looked more like a castle then a school. "Are you sure they'all be good with this?"

Yang thought to herself for a moment before nodding "Well Blake should be okay, you might have trouble with Weiss though now that I think about it." She frowned suddenly "You'll know her when you see her. Don't take anything she says too seriously though, the heiress is rude to everyone equally, its not you."

"She's an heiress? What like a princess or something?"

"Pretty much" she arranged her face into a condescending glare "Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, the largest provider of quality Dust in Vytal and beyond" she said in a mock uptight voice before laughing to herself. "She's a handful but she's a good person deep down, I think."

"Sounds like a terror, so her family controls Dust production, like the stuff that powers your bike?" I asked, remembering the short conversation we'd had on the subject on the miracle power source.

"My bike and just about everything else in the world." She replied

"Alright, and Blake, what's her story?"

"Not too sure to tell you the truth, she keeps to herself most of the time. I've given up trying to crack that, you like books?" She asked offhandedly.

"Maybe" I said shrugging. "Why do you ask?"

"Well if you do you should be okay, that's how Ruby got through to her at least." Soon enough we found ourselves standing in front of a large metal door at the end of the hallway which Yang unlocked as she scanned her scroll. "With any luck they'll be asleep and we can just sneak in without any..."

"Where have you been!?" A regal sounding voice rang out as the door opened. Yang visibly flinched at the sound.

"Damn it" she hissed out as a slender girl with snow white hair and a matching nightgown threw open the door, to be honest she might look rather cute if she wasn't glaring daggers at Yang.

"Don't "damn it" me Yang, you and Ruby were supposed to be back hours ago, and where is she?" She looked around for Ruby.

"Chill out Weiss we ran into some trouble but we dealt with it, Ruby just stayed behind to" Yang stammered out before Weiss caught sight of me standing behind her, eyes narrowing into slits. Okay not cute, scary definitely scary, and Yang's responses weren't helping.

"So you leave our leader stranded in the middle of the night and come back her with the latest boy, can't account for your taste in men though," she looked me over with a disdainful glare before turning back to Yang with a disapproving scowl. "The others were at least dressed somewhat decently, what hole did you drag this one out of?"

"Alley actually, and hey I take offense to that princess." My clothes now that I looked were somewhat shabby, like I'd been living rough for a while. But still, she didn't have to be so rude.

The girl looked taken aback by my interruption before turning on me red-faced "What did you call me!" I could see Yang gesturing to me to shut up. I didn't.

"What, Princess? You're an heiress, seemed like a fitting title. Don't give Yang any grief; she's helping me out right now." Sighing, Yang led me into the room past the now fuming girl.

"Well now you've met Weiss." She muttered under her breath, "Great at first impressions, aren't you?"

"I guess I just don't respond well to rude people, plus she was steamrolling you because of me, only fair I draw some of the attention."

"Your noble sacrifice is noted." She said with a quick laugh.

The room was a bit cramped but seemed comfortable enough, Posters covered parts of the wall along with the occasional picture belonging to one of it's occupants. The weirdest thing about the room was the beds, which I think were supposed to be modeled into bunks to save room. One bed was hanging from hooks driven into the ceiling on one side while the other pair was stacked on top of each other balanced on piles of books.

Okay remind me to never be on the bottom of one of those, I'm impressed they haven't fallen already. I noticed another girl wearing a black bow in her already wavy dark hair and a black yukata, peering down at me from behind a book from the top of one of the bunks.

"You must be Blake. Names Joel , nice to meet you." I gave a short bow. Forget what Yang said, I could do first impressions, totally and without question.

"He's certainly more polite then the boys you've brought around before." She stated with a small smile, I could hear Yang gnashing her teeth from behind me before focusing again on the girl. With her bow combined with how her amber colored eyes seemed to glow in the dim light of the candelabra she read by, giving her a noticeably feline appearance, it was strange but certainly not unpleasant. "Blake, Blake Belladonna. She said bowing her head.

"Nice to meet you Blake, good story?" I asked pointing at the book she held, it looked strangely familiar. She looked a bit uncomfortable at the question. "Oh uh never mind you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, sorry." I said quickly picking up on her hesitation, okay maybe not so good at first impressions.

"No it's alright, it's just...I'm not used to anyone being interested in what I read." She looked down at the book. "It's about a man with two souls battling for control of one body; I started it earlier this week and I'm almost finished with it."

"Good choice, I liked that story a lot, I loved how the author wrote the main character." I said suddenly without thinking.

Her face suddenly lit up. "Me too, you've read it?"

I frowned "I suppose, I probably must have?"

"You're not sure?" She closed the book with a confused look.

Yang came to my aid clapping me hard on the shoulder. "Yeah that happens, apparently he lost his memory at some point. Doesn't remember a thing. Anyway, he helped me and Ruby out of a jam so I thought I'd do him a favor and let him stay the night."

"What trouble did you get into now?" Weiss asked sitting on her bed. Yang shot her a dirty look.

"Some of Roman Torchwick's men cornered us as we were coming back. Joel helped us fight them off." She went on giving a detailed retelling of the whole fight, including how I beat down three plus the leader by myself. Blake appeared impressed while Weiss just seemed worried. "Ruby stayed behind to help the police while I brought Joel back with me to see Professor Ozpin." Yang finished.

"So you bring a completely unknown, potentially disturbed, highly dangerous individual into the school just because he helped you." Weiss asked looking at me strangely.

Yang looked ready to defend me but I held up a hand to stop her before turning to Weiss. "I get it, you don't trust me, it's a weird situation and I would too in your position." I slowly reached down and drew "Chance" out of its holster, presenting it to her. "Ruby has my other weapon, now I'm unarmed." She took the weapon, holding it gingerly in both hands. "We got off on the wrong foot. Sorry." I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly.

She looked shocked before regaining her composure and turning her nose up at me. "Just...just don't try anything funny I'll be keeping an eye on you." I nodded as she turned and stalked off towards her bed.

Yang threw an arm over my shoulders. "Look Joel, you made a friend, anyway time for bed." She began moving towards her dresser shooting me a wink along with a sly smile while taking off her jacket.

"I'll ah… wait in the bathroom; let me know when you're good." I said quickly before retreating from the room, Yang's giggling behind me.

"You're terrible." I heard Blake say before shutting the door.

All in all the night passed by quickly after that. Yang offered to let me sleep on her bed, eliciting a lengthy lecture from Weiss about decorum and proper behavior in cohabitation. I declined anyway opting to sleep in one of the desk chairs. Considering I'd woken up in a dingy back alley, it was a definite improvement though I did have to sleep in my clothes. I also got the opportunity to talk to Blake about some of her books, I was at least somewhat familiar enough to discuss them and she seemed to enjoy the conversation anyway.

(The Next Morning)

"So you woke up in an alley with no memory of who you are or how you came to be there." Ozpin noted on a scroll lying across his desk.

"That's correct sir." I stretched uncomfortably in the chair. Yang had brought me through the winding corridors until she had spotted a middle aged woman with light blonde hair drawn up intoa tight bun. The woman, Glynda Goodwitch, listened as Yang relayed my situation before practically dragging me to the headmaster's office for this uncomfortable interview. The headmaster himself was an older man with graying hair and thin brown eyes behind a pair of shaded spectacles.

Ozpin nodded to himself before pressing a button on his desk. Suddenly Ruby walked into the room carrying my staff with her. She gave me a small wave before a cough from Ozpin drew her attention. "Miss Rose here as well as Miss Xiao-Long have both given their own accounts of your combat abilities during the battle, very impressive." He took the collapsed staff from Ruby and then held a hand out towards me. "Your gun" he commanded. I drew the weapon and passed it to him. He spent a good minute examining both weapons in his hands before once again looking up at me. "So your abilities just come to you? Without your own volition?"

"No, well I guess sort of, sir." I responded. "It just happens, like a reflex, I know what I'm doing while I'm fighting or getting attacked, like I just know what to do when I need to do it."

Ozpin's eyes narrowed. "So the body remembers what the mind forgets." He stated, more to himself then to me or Ruby. "Abilities like those you've evidently displayed on what footage we could obtain of the event are rare, even among some of our best students, and weapons such as these can't just be provided anywhere. Miss Rose."

Ruby jumped, startled, "Yes Professor?"

"Do you vouch for this individual's story, do you believe him trustworthy?"

Ruby looked at me as if uncertain before shaking her head and nodding confidently. "Yes professor, I vouch for him, his story is strange but he certainly needs our help."

Ozpin smiled before turning his gaze on me again with a serious look crossing his face. "Now young man, I'm going to make you an offer, one that will affect your future greatly if you take it, and potentially kill you if you prove unprepared for it."

I glanced at Ruby with a worried look and received one in turn. "I'm listening"

"What I'm offering is a place at my school as a Huntsman in training." He gave me a second to process the offer before continuing, placing my weapons on the table in front of me. "This is a strange case, and Miss Rose here can attest as to how rarely and how bizzare this occurs."

"Wait wait wait wait." Shook my head gazing from Ozpin to Ruby, who looked as shocked as I was. "I don't even know my own name for certain, and you want me to be a Huntsman, I barely remember what they are; let alone what it takes to be one." I said laughing, it must have been a joke.

"You seem to possess the skill required for it though it appears to be buried deep. The knowledge may come in time as your memory returns, or we can provide it in our lessons, either way in time I believe you have the potential to be a great asset to our ranks." Ozpin stated simply.

"I see how this helps you, and don't get me wrong, I'm honored, however what do I get out of this?" I noted, trying not to sound ungrateful, I wasn't.

The headmaster nodded curtly, "Of course there are some benefits, as a student here under my care, I promise you I will make use of Beacon's considerable resources to assist in researching your past. We will also be able to provide food and shelter. Is that incentive enough for you?"

I sat there deep in thought, Ozpin's offer did seem to have promise, hell, my only other option was looking into it on my own, and it was hard to ignore Ruby's begging look.

"I will warn you now however..." Ozpin noted offhand, "This path will involve facing the creatures of Grimm, a thing completely different from fighting a human being. Are you ready for that?"

I should have been scared I mean, if what I've learned from my time talking to Yang was even half true, these creatures once almost wiped out humanity before the discovery of Dust. However when he mentioned them I felt strangely angry, forgotten screams and howls coming to life in my head.

"Fine, Professor you have yourself a student." I said rubbing my head trying to quiet the noise. Ruby was almost, no wait, literally bouncing in joy.

"That's amazing Joel, this is so awesome, oh I can't wait we'll..."

"A moment Miss Rose" Ozpin calmly, stopping the girl mid bounce. "There is the matter of his initiation to attend to." Okay, not liking the concerned look on Ruby's face as he said that.

"Professor does he really need to, I mean couldn't you jus..."

Ozpin shook his head before leaning forward, "You yourself were a similar case and you still were placed through initiation, he's special, but not so much so that he can be coddled. He'll have to prove his mettle by fire, same as any other student would, more than most it seems."

"But many people didn't even make it out of there! And the initiation is supposed to be a team exercise, he's alone!" She said pleadingly.

"If he falls, then that's sadly the lengths his resolve would take him." He muttered solemnly.

"Okay what is this, hazing the new student?" I asked jokingly, receiving an icy glare from the man.

"No I'm afraid not Joel, I'm afraid not." He gestured towards the weapons in front of me. "Take them Joel, and prepare yourself, we'll notify Team RWBY when we are ready for you." He waved a hand of dismissal waving us out the door.

(Minutes ago)

"So all I have to do is find a totem at the temple North of here through the forest?" I asked Professor Goodwitch as she directed me towards a strange metal platform rising out from the ground around it.

"Yes, a simple task, but do not underestimate the difficulty of what we ask you to do." She said looking up from her scroll to look at me, a stern but worried expression on her face. "Those totems are still there because some students were unable to get to them." She let the implications of that statement was over me.

I turned to look at the assembled Team RWBY behind me who were standing a short stretch away readying weapons. Weiss had placed her hair up in a ponytail and was wearing what appeared to be a lacy white dress with a red trim on the inside, no wait it was a combat skirt, she'd spent ten minutes earlier explain the difference, while Blake stood nearby in a black button up jacket that exposed part of her midriff and white shorts with long stocking, black ribbons running up her arm. She saw me looking and gave me a short wave, I nodded back at her. "And every student does this?" I said absently.

Goodwitch cleared her throat bringing me back around to face her. "A variant of it yes, your trial however is different in that as the forest was only just recently disturbed during the initiation a week ago, the Grimm inside will be more aggressive at your intrusion, and as you are entering alone, they will focus on you rather than spreading over a distance." she stopped to adjust her glasses "I wouldn't wish what your about to face on a full-fledged Huntsman or Huntress, there is no shame in being frightened or wishing to back out."

"Thank you Professor but I'm determined, I don't have many other options."

She looked on at me sadly before once again regaining composure. "Team RWBY will be entering a short time after you, they're to remain hidden and out of your way and are in no way to assist you unless it has been determined by myself or the team leader, is that clear?" I got the feeling that it wasn't just me she was reminding.

"Crystal, I don't want them drawing attention anyway, I'll manage somehow."

"Right, you have a few minutes, say goodbyes if nothing else." She motioned for the team to come over before.

"Thank you, Professor" I said shortly.

"Joel" I turned to find Ruby staring up at me, "Be careful, budget your energy and just make North, and don't fight any drawn out battles early on, your Aura won't hold out if you use it wildly."

"My what won't hold out?"

"Your Aura." She said matter a fact, I gave her a look and tapped my head, her mouth fell open "But you used it in your fight, I thought you knew at least that."

Blake spun me around to face her giving me a serious look. "Joel have you noticed a strange glow coming off your body, or felt like you took blows but were uninjured afterwards?"

"I remember seeing a blue glow when I first fought. I thought it was just my imagination, there was also this song going in my head during the fight, is that it?"

Blake sighed in relief letting go of me. "Good, you can use it at least, that's your Aura, the manifestation of your soul. Someone with training is able to use it as a means to protect themselves or use it to enhance their physical and regenerative abilities or even their senses."

So that's how I pulled off those moves, I thought to myself looking down at my hands remembering the speed and strength I'd had as well as the Axe blows I should have taken. "So how do I use it, you said I had to have training but I have already used it to block damage"

"At first it takes great concentration and willpower to manifest it, it took me years before I could control mine at the level I can now. You must have had training at some point that you're drawing on instinctively, just like your weapon skills."

"I suppose, why a song though, it was almost to the beat of my fight." I asked remembering the cadence, the strange and wild song that had been at the forefront of my mind.

"Some people use tunes or song to focus their Aura in battle, it's probably a trick you've drilled into yourself."

"Honestly I'm surprised you've lasted as long as you have without knowing a basic principle such as Aura use." Weiss said out loud, I just sighed as Blake glared at her."

"A few seconds now!" Goodwitch's voice rang out.

"Just be careful okay" Yang clapped a hand on my back strongly enough to nearly knock me over.

"You'll be fine; we'll come running if you need us." Blake said comfortingly.

"Oh and I examined your staff" Ruby pointed to the sheathed weapon on my back. "When you meet a Grimm use the switch to the right after activating it."

"The right, got it" I acknowledged giving her a thumbs up before turning to look at them all in turn, "Thanks, all of you for helping me, now..." I looked out to the forest beneath the cliff, "is there some sort of path down or vehicle I'm missing, how do I get down there?" I noticed them moving away from the platform. "Why are you all moving away like that?" I said before feeling the platform lurch under me.

"They didn't want us to tell you." Ruby said apologetically. "Good luck with your landing."

"No..." I looked from the platform to the forest below. "No… No No, OH SHIIIIT!" I yelled as the platform flung forward like a catapult, shooting me out over the cliff.

(Present)

Yeah this is definitely going to hurt, a lot. I could make out individual trees now from the green carpet flying below.

How am I going survive the fall much less the forest, grab a branch as I pass by? No if the branch didn't break, my arms would likely be ripped off by the force of impact. I could see branches now. Wait Aura, Blake had said it can shield from damage. It was a long shot but I was desperate.

Okay concentrate, focus, FOCUS! I managed it somehow, felt the song reverberating through my mind as my body began to give off a bright bluish glow and the world brighten. I felt absolutely incredible. Come on, come on!

I barely felt the impact of the first few branches as I smashed through them, laughing at the rush of adrenaline and power. Then of course came the ground. I attempted to roll, redirect the energy but I was coming in to fast and the area I land on was at an angle sending me into an awkward tumble downward as I bounced and spun. Finally coming to rest in a small clearing I just laid there breathing heavily.

As the rush faded I tried to move assess my injuries. Despite crashing through a few dozen feet of undergrowth, let alone impacting with the force of a meteor, all I had was a couple bruises and my gear seemed undamaged as well. I'd be sore tomorrow but that was nothing. I whooped and cheered, punching the air, wincing a bit as a my arm ached, though it already felt better than before, right, regenerative properties, note to self, Aura, best thing ever. "That all?" I yelled out into the woods around me wildly "Hah, fling me off a cliff, got to do better than that!" I lurched a bit feeling a bit tired. Okay better keep it simple for a while, while incredible, Aura seemed to be just as taxing as Ruby had said.

A harsh growling jerked me from my thoughts, spinning around; I saw a pair of glowing red eyes staring back at me from the undergrowth. "Okay" I muttered backing away slowly reaching for my staff, "This might be a problem."

**(Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or its characters, they belong to Monty Oum of Roosterteeth Productions, those characters you see not from the show like the main character are my own OCs for the purpose of the story. Enjoy) - Mojo1586**

**A/N: Thanks everyone for the reads and the views, they're the reason I keep writing. I hope everyone had fun over the holidays.**


	3. Chapter 3

SCARS

**_-Joel-_**

"Okay" I muttered backing away from the pair of glowing red eyes staring back at me, "This might be a problem". Suddenly a creature out of a twisted nightmare burst into the clearing. At around 7 feet tall hunched over with long muscled limbs tipped in gleaming finger-length claws, it was enormous and covered in midnight black fur except for a series of bony white protrusions along its arms and a bone like mask over the top of its face. A Beowolf, the word came unbidden into my mind as I stared at the monster.

As the Beowolf lunged forward snarling wildly, I leapt to the side Fortune extending in my hands. The creature spun around preparing for another lunge. I should have wanted to run, what was I going to do I had a metal stick, good for stopping people but this? I should have bolted as soon as I'd dodged and get the hell away from this thing, this monster, but I could barely focus on anything but the screams in my head.

Howls, cries of pain, roars, shrieks, so loud I gripped my head with a free hand trying to quiet them. The sounds were there, but fear wasn't, just rage, anger at this soulless thing, I didn't know what had happened, but I knew that this creature and others like it had something to do with it. And what I felt most of all was the overwhelming desire to see this thing dead. The creature hesitated confused at my lack of action.

What was that Ruby had said? Switch on the right? As I slid the small switch the whole staff shook as long blades engraved with swirling designs extended from both ends of the weapon. Looking down at them I smiled wickedly and glared at the Grimm. "That's better, well?" I spun the staff in circles getting a feel for the extra weight, it felt right, "COME AND GET ME!" I shouted at the beast as it charged forward, claw swiping forward.

A second later the beast's clawed hand dropped to the grassy floor severed at the wrist while the Beowolf struggled and whined feebly, impaled along the length of the blade. One quick twist later and it fell silent as I withdrew the weapon from its chest, falling to the ground to join its hand. I stood over the corpse breathing heavily but somehow feeling better than before, I was ready for more when I remembered my objective. "Totem first, Grimm second" I muttered moving directly opposite of the cliff where I'd been thrown from still visible on the horizon. "Besides, probably more along the way."

**_-On the cliff face-_**

"How is our new student progressing?" Ozpin asked from his perch overlooking the forest.

"Well, aside from his unusual approach in his landing strategy, he has been performing well beyond the usual standards we expect Professor. However..." She hesitated. Ozpin turned to face her.

"What is it Miss Goodwitch?"

The woman looked uncomfortable, "This boy's combat abilities are up to par, and his endurance in using his Aura levels, especially after a fall like that is nothing sort of incredible." She explained quickly, "However as he's faced more Grimm, I've noticed a disturbing change in his attitude."

"What kind of change?" Ozpin took a glance back at the forest.

"It's just that as he fights the more reckless and aggressive he becomes, his Aura seems to be feeding off this." She looked down at the readouts on her scroll "We've had similar readings taken from those who have survived or lost family in attacks from the Creatures of Grimm in the past, but not at levels like this."

"Is it affecting him negatively? Sometimes it is necessary to face these creatures with some guiding factor, I would personally prefer selfless resolve to vengeful fury as a reason, but if it doesn't hinder him I have no reason to try and stop it." Ozpin said, eyes going to his own scroll.

"I'm just making notes professor, it is rare to see Aura so adaptive to the emotional state of the user, I just hope you know what you're doing with that boy, and he may be trouble." Glynda remarked moving away, "Also Team RWBY is following his course, and are following orders to stay out of his way." Ozpin just barely heard her whisper "For their own sakes I hope they stay out of his way."

Gazing down at the small camera feed depicting Joel slicing of an Ursa's head with a small frown. Glynda may have a point about his attitude. "I certainly hope I do know what I'm doing" He bowed his head switching between camera feeds yet again.

**_-Blake-_**

"Man, he is going to town on these guys!" Yang shouted as we passed over two more Ursa corpses. "What is that, fifteen now?

"Seventeen." I called back, landing gracefully on a thick tree branch. "He might actually beat our record if this keeps up."

"Nah" Yang landed heavily beside me "We got a Nevermore, that's worth way more than a couple Ursa and Beowolves."

"Yeah, but he's alone, still..." I gazed ahead with a worried look, "I thought Ruby told him to conserve Aura, especially after that landing. What is he thinking?" Memories of Lie Ren collapsing after Team JNPR's fight with the Deathstalker fresh in my mind.

Yang burst out laughing, "Oh yeah, the look on his face was priceless, better than Jaune's when he got flung even." I gave her an icy glare and she sobered up. "Hey, point is he landed safely, and from what I'm sensing he's just fine on stamina, in fact", she folded her arms cocking her head in the direction we were heading, "he seems to be doing even better than before."

I nodded sighing, Yang had a point, even without the trail of bodies to follow, Joel's Aura stood out like a beacon, easy to follow if you knew how. " I checked the scroll Professor Goodwitch had given to each of them, confirming his position for myself. "I think he must be fighting again; his readings are going crazy again. How are Ruby and Weiss doing with cleanup?"

Yang looked at her scroll which displayed the rest of the team's location. "Their moving a short while behind us, looks like our trip back will be uneventful after all."

"That's good" we had been ordered to stay out of Joel's way, but technically we could operate how we wanted in the meantime. Ruby had had the idea that she and Weiss would thin the Grimm's numbers a bit more along the path back so we could return safely after Joel grabs the totem, while I would use my tracking and stealth talents to keep an eye on him with Yang as my backup in case he needed a rescue. "Doesn't look like he needs it though." I whispered looking down

"You know we could move a bit closer if you like." Yang suggested looking my way, "Not close enough for him to notice us, just to be there when he reaches the temple, you know."

I gave a short nod, "Yeah, let's do that, we're nearly there anyway." As we continued through the forest I noticed Yang watching me when she thought I wasn't looking, the blonde was tough and great in a fight but had all the subtlety of a charging Ursa. "What, Yang" I looked back at her traveling a short way back.

"Oh Nothing" she said innocently, "Just thinking"

We came out on the outskirts to a large field where a circular stone ruin stood in the center. From here I could see Joel squaring off against one last pack of Beowolves standing guard on the outside. Man this brings back memories, it was here where a Death Stalker and Nevermore had nearly wiped us out, and only a few minutes away stood the ruins where both Teams RWBY and JNPR had come together to defeat the two monsters.

From this distance I could easily make out the sounds of the battle, only slightly muffled by my bow, and see Joel spinning a bladed staff warding off his opponents.

Yang stood watching the fight before turning and pointing excitedly "Hah, see, I told you he was good."

"Weiss was the one saying he couldn't, not me." I retorted, "I was just skeptical, I mean guy with no memory shows up out of nowhere and saves the day, it's just so storybook."

"Least he's nice though, what do you think Ozpin will do with him?" She asked suddenly. "I mean we really know nothing about him or where he came from, I don't feel like he's a bad person or I wouldn't have brought him here, but who knows what he was up to before he..." She smacked the side of her head before staring at her hand, a look of exasperation etching her features, "Hell, we don't even know if he hit his head!"

To be honest I'd had similar thoughts on what Joel might have been, "It is strange, meeting up with someone like him, man with no memory and a mysterious past." I shrugged "Seems like something out of a book.

"Well he seems nice enough, polite, decent social skills. Plus…" She shot me a .mischievous glance before looking away casually, "He's pretty cute, little rough in places, little bit lean for my tastes, but get him some nicer clothes, clean him up a bit..."

"Wow, are we really talking about this, now?" I asked shaking my head.

"He has this whole rugged handsome thing going, though he could definitely pull off something fancy, and that hair, do you think those streaks are natural like Weiss or dyed? Maybe I can ask him." She continued.

"Yang, really, is this the time?"

"No, he probably doesn't remember if it is, now that I think about it, he should grow it out a bit." She shot me a sly glance.

"He was talking to you about all those books you read so he's not a total brute like Cardin and his team, you two were hitting it off."

"We just talked about some books, figuring out what he knew, I was helping him." I said quickly, trying to get off the subject.

"Yeah" the blonde sighed giving me a small wink, "But it was HOW you talked about book things, I don't know, you seemed to be enjoying it, that's all."

"Look, he's finishing off the last of them now. Let's go congratulate him." I said quickly, anything to get off this subject.

"Sure, sure" Yang turned her head to look at me smiling when a look of fear crossed her face "BLAKE GET AWAY FROM THERE!" She shrieked lunging at me, her gauntlets "Ember Celica" extending over her fists.

"Wha" I just had time to look over my shoulder and wonder how that enormous Beowolf had gotten behind me without me noticing, when it struck and all went dark.

**_-Joel- _**

"And down you go!" I shouted laughing as I brought one of "Fortune's" bladed edges down, slicing cleanly through the last Beowolf's chest from shoulder to hip. As it hit the ground I finally let myself relax and stepped back to look at my handiwork. I'd lost track of time running through the forest. I'd also lost count of how many Grimm I'd killed, they all just blended together after a while. All I knew was that for some odd reason I got an overwhelming sense of satisfaction and a surge of strength for every one that hit the ground. Even after what felt like hours fighting these things, I practically glowed with energy.

"Take one totem and get out. Okay." I muttered turning towards the old ruin. I could make out stone pedestals sitting in a semicircle spaced evenly along the North side. Most of the pedestals stood empty while some had what appeared to be chess pieces placed on top of them which must be what I was after. Before I'd taken more than a step forward however I heard what sounded like a shout split the air behind me. Wait a moment that almost sounded like "Yang!" I called out turning around. Sure enough it was Yang her hair flying wildly in the air as she fell towards me. "Shit! Yang!" I let my energy surge once again as I leapt catching the girl before she hit the ground.

She stirred weakly before her eyes snapped open as she leapt from my arms stumbling as she got to her feet. "Joel, where is it, it grabbed Blake and hit me, where is it!" She asked frantically looking at the tree line with a wild look in her... Were her eyes turning red? Her hair was also glowing as if on fire.

I put those unusual little bits aside however and figure out what was going on. "Where's what Yang? What happened to Blake?" Even as I asked a single dark shape leapt out from the tree line landing a short ways in front of us. It was a Beowolf, I think, it stood a good two heads taller than the ones I'd seen on my way here. It also looked a lot, well, thicker and had more bone like plating and spikes along its body. It was had something smaller slung over its shoulder. "Blake." I whispered.

I turned to Yang grabbing her shoulder, "I'll distract it and get it to move, you grab Blake, are Ruby and Weiss nearby?" She looked back at me and nodded quickly. "Get her out of here and find them, got it?

"I can't just leave you here!" She gazed at the creature that seemed to be sizing us up. "This one's different; it knocked Yang out in one move and sent me flying! You need a team!

"Which is why you're getting the others, I'll hold it off, understand?" I said firmly though I how I intended to do that I had no idea. No, no fear, you can't help Blake if you're afraid. Yang opened her mouth as if to argue more but closed again nodding solemnly. "Good, you go left, now!"

I broke into a full sprint towards the enormous Beowolf, staff held like a spear, blade forward, Yang moving a few paces behind me. The beast looked at me hungrily before shrugging Blake off like dead weight dropping her at its feet. Seeing it standing over Blake, claws raised to kill, gave a sinking feeling I'd seen a similar scene before, another place, another time, and it pissed me the fuck off!

"Get away from her you bastard!" I shouted drawing "Chance" and firing three rounds into the beast as I kept up my charge. Two of the heavy rounds impacted into its chest, knocking it back a step; the third went through the creature's raised hand, severing a long clawed finger. The creature roared angrily and managed to knock the staff's blade to the side but couldn't stop my momentum as I smashed into the beast knocking it back several more paces away from Blake. "Yang, get her out of here!" I shouted back as the creature reared to strike.

"Got her!" Yang scooped Blake into her arms and made for the edge of the clearing, "Don't go and die before we get back, understand!". The Beowolf moved to follow when I shot the ground in front of it, bringing the creature to a halt glaring at me. "Your fighting me, asshole, ME!" I holstered my gun and assumed a fighting stance with my staff. It didn't worry me that I was fighting a powerful creature on my own with no back-up, I was well beyond fear at this point. Worry for Blake, mixed in with a lot of rage and adrenaline kept me from feeling much else.

Forget distracting it, I was going to slaughter it!

**_-Blake- _**

The first thing I noticed upon waking was a splitting pain in my head followed by bits and flashes of color as I tried opening my eyes. I also noticed I was being carried bridal style by someone whose hair glowed as if on fire. "Yang?" I asked groggily.

The blonde looked down shocked "Blake?" I could barely answer before being drawn into a bone crushing hug despite my protests. "Blake I thought we lost you there! I tried but when that thing grabbed you, Joel distracted it but... I'm so sorry!" She had tears in her eyes now.

"Yang, can't breathe." I stammered quickly, the girl noticed my discomfort, giving a quick apology, helping me get to my feet shakily. I put my hand to my head to steady myself, flinching I pulled my hand away seeing blood. "What happened? Last thing I remember seeing was this huge Beowolf then I woke up here."

"You took a bad hit and got grabbed by that thing; I've never seen one that size before. Anyway Joel noticed and managed to catch me when it sent me flying." She looked back fearfully. "He told me he would distract it while I ran with you to get the others."

"He's alone!" I reached for my back, relived to feel "Gambol Shroud's" comforting weight. "I'm going back for him, get the others!" I began to move back in the direction of Joel's Aura, Yang however moved to stand in front of me, arms outstretched.

"No, Blake that thing almost killed you once already, I can't let you go back, Joel is fighting alone to give us time to get the others."

"Which is why we can't just leave him alone damn it!" I shouted, shocking her. I pushed past her and ran through the forest, tired but determined. I'd already abandoned one teammate, despite my reasons for doing so, I wasn't going to abandon another.

**_-Joel- _**

"Damn it!" I grunted as I rolled to dodge another leaping attack from the monster, wincing as I stressed my injured shoulder where the creature had gotten me with its first attack. For a big guy, the bastard was deceptively fast, and smart as well, striking hard and dodging out of range as I tried to counter rather than charging me wildly like the others. His attacks also hit way harder, Yang hadn't been kidding when she said he'd sent her flying, his claws bit right through my Aura like it wasn't even there and I had the cuts to prove it.

I was breathing hard, moving slower, my anger had given me a boost earlier but that only went so far after the hours of fighting in the forest before. I was exhausted and this thing knew it, if only I could keep it close, my gun had proven ineffective after a while after it learned.

Suddenly in a flash of dust the Beowolf was right in front of me, claws stabbing out, I managed to just barely knock the hand away though the creature merely lashed me with a wicked backhand sending me sprawling in the grass a few feet away, tearing deep furrows in my chest and knocking the breath from my lungs.

The creature stalked towards me slowly wary for another attack as I staggered upright panting, leaning on my staff for support. I was screwed and I knew it, couldn't even focus my Aura at this point, I was drained.

Well, at least Yang and Blake should be far enough away by now that they would be safe, I did my job, I grinned weakly. "Might as well go down fighting like a Huntsman at least" I whispered as the monster came at me one last time.

Suddenly the air was rent with a loud bang followed by a loud keening howl as something buried itself deep in the creature's back, causing it to rear up, my body moved on its own, my hands twisted, causing "Fortune" to split down the middle, both halves compressing until I was holding two long swords with long spikes on the bottom end of both hilts. I barely gave the change a thought, taking advantage of the distraction to leap forward and drive one sword into the beast's heart while the other found its throat.

The Beowolf gave a surprised yelp which came out as a wet gurgling sound, before I jerked the sword upwards with a shout of victory, sending a spray of blood and some sort of black smoky substance into the air. Kicking the corpse off the other blade I brought the two swords together, reassembling the staff and compressing the weapon, my sheath had been mangled during the fight so I settled for sliding it onto my belt. I jumped as the object sticking out of the corpse's back, the thing that saved my life, suddenly flew in the direction of the treeline, from what I could see, it was some sort of bladed pistol connected to a length of long black ribbon being handled by...

"Blake?" I said in very real surprise, trying to take a step towards her, but tripping as a wave of exhaustion suddenly washed over me. Blake rushed forward to catch me, grunting under my weight, "Sorry, its been a rough day." I said lamely as I tried to shift some of my weight off of her.

"It's no big deal, you're not that heavy." She said, though I noticed her still straining to hold me. Then I noticed the blood matted in her hair. "Yang's getting the Ruby and Weiss, meanwhile let's get your totem and go. We do not want to spend the night her."

"You shouldn't have come back." I muttered under my breath as we walked towards the ruins, "You were injured, you're lucky it was distracted and didn't see you coming or you'd have been dead for sure."

"I'm fine, better than you are anyway, besides if I hadn't come back, you'd be dead for sure, that thing would have killed you." She retorted looking up at me frowning. "Sacrificing yourself, how do you think Yang would have felt if you died for her, how do you think I'd feel?"

"Blake, I"

She plowed on, cutting me off. "No you didn't think about it, it was the same last night with Weiss and Yang, you through yourself in the fire for others without thinking of yourself." She looked back down, shaking her head. "It's noble, admirable, but you need to watch that, it's not healthy."

I looked down at her and smiled pulling her into a one armed hug, easy when I was pretty much leaning on her for support anyway. "Sorry, Blake." I think she actually blushed but it might have just been the blood loss, things were a little blurry.

"It's alright, just keep it off the battlefield, especially when you have people to help you, Ruby would be saying we need to watch each other's backs."

I laughed, wincing as my shoulder flared up again. "Smart girl, that Ruby."

"She means well, and she is for her age." Blake agreed setting me down against one of the surrounding pillars inside the ruins. "I'll set off a flare, we usually make our own way back but I don't think we'll manage that on our own, this will let the Professors know to send a ride our way."

"Alright, sounds good." I reached over my head and grabbed the totem sitting above me bring it down to look at it. The totem was light and shaped like a white pawn chess piece. "Huh" I shrugged putting it aside and opening myself up to the exhaustion. "Blake can handle it from here." I muttered lowering my head. "Damn I'm tired".

**_-Blake-_**

"Alright" I stood up as the flare began releasing a spray of fine green dust into the air, sparkling as it steadily rose into the sky. "They should be here soon, along with the others. Joel?" I turned around and panicked as I noticed him slumped over against the pillar, totem sitting on the ground beside him. "Joel!" I sprinted over, kneeling at his side hand on his neck, before breathing an audible sigh of relief. He had a pulse and was still breathing. "Must have just passed out" I sighed.

It was understandable, hours of fighting and extreme long-term Aura use took their toll and he'd had more than his fair share of both today. At the moment his Aura would be trying to heal his injuries using what energy he had left itself.

"Blake!" I spun around at the sound of my name, seeing the rest of my team, Ruby moving at the front coming to a stop in front of me. She moved a hand to the cut on the side of my head but I moved her hand away shaking my head. "What happened? Yang said there was this crazy strong Beowolf attacking."

"We're both okay" I pointed back towards the corpse of the creature lying a short ways away. "Joel fought it and managed to finish it off as I distracted it, it was...ah!" I was cut off as Yang sprang forward and hugged me, tears in her eyes,

"That was stupid and reckless, both of you, stupid, crazy, and reckless!" She sobbed.

"Yang, I'm sorry but you need to..."

Yang suddenly released me looking around frantically "And where is Joel? I've got some words for that crazy dumbass!" I pointed at the pillar where Joel was resting.

Ruby gasped and moved towards him but I moved in front of her shaking my head. "He's fine, I checked on him, just resting." the girl sighed in relief.

"That's good" she noticed the small pawn piece sitting next to him and gave a loud squeal of delight but cut it off as I shot her a glare. "Sorry, but this is awesome, he passed." Weiss moved to examine him more closely checking her scroll.

"He is recovering, however we should check his wounds, most are superficial but the shoulder needs to be bandaged or he might be in trouble." She said looking back at us.

"I've got it." Yang said quickly kneeling down and moving Joel gingerly off the pillar gazing in my direction pulling bandages and medicine from a pack at her waist and holding it out to me. "Blake, help me get his shirt off." I hesitated for a second before moving to pull his jacket off, making sure to watch his wounds and taking a bottle of salve.

"What are you two doing!?" Weiss demanded looking mortified, glaring at us.

Yang stared at her plainly "We need to remove them to get at his shoulder, besides..." She looked over his clothes which were covered in tears and splattered with blood and dirt. "I think he'll need new clothes anyway. Blake just tear the shirt, we'll get him a new one later." Weiss looked away muttering something about decency. "Find a tear near the neck and rip down."

"Got it." I said trying to keep red from tinging my cheeks. I set his coat aside, the blue symbol standing out against the black of the coat. Joel grunted and shifted in Yang's arms. Okay, now the shirt, the blue shirt was practically in ruins already, I just found the first tear nearest the neck and with a bit of effort ripped open the back.

**_-Yang-_**

He's okay, we'll bandage him up and everything will be alright. "Find a tear near the neck and rip down." Blake nodded an affirmative, finding a tear in the blue fabric that extended below the injury. I could still hear Weiss muttering a short ways behind Blake. We're just taking his shirt off, grow up Weiss, there had been plenty of guys shirtless in the ballroom their first night, she'd just have to get used to it.

The tearing sound brought me back to reality as I held Joel steady.

I couldn't seek his back but as the shirt fell away I got a good view of the man. He was pretty tall but more lean then brawny, decent abs though, I thought with a grin. The injuries to his chest bled a bit still but were healing well, no problems there. Blake let out a stifled scream, dropping the small bottle she was carrying with a loud clatter, Weiss wasn't doing much better, retching and lurching away. Ruby looked over at me then moved to tend to Weiss however a worried look came over her face as she looked back at Joel. I looked at them all with a bemused expression. "What the hell guys?! It's a cut; it's not even that serious. We've seen worse."

"No, Yang, his back..." Blake whispered quietly pointing at him. What the hell?

I leaned Joel down to my lap as gingerly as I could. The shoulder injury was present, vivid and raw, however that paled in comparison to the vicious scars and gouges extending from his shoulder blades all the way to his lower back. "Shit" as I looked more closely, "Are those claw marks?" I asked my voice barely above a whisper.

Blake breathed in heavily and moved forward feeling lightly at the old scars. "Yes, and deep too, from a Beowolf, I think." Her eyes narrowed, "His Aura should have healed this somewhat, they must have been much worse when it happened, if their still this bad."

"How did he survive something like that, it's horrible?" Weiss groaned, Ruby patting her back.

I looked down at his sleeping face, "I'm more interested in who he is."


	4. Chapter 4

(Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or its characters, they belong to Monty Oum of Roosterteeth Productions, those characters you see not from the show like the main character are my own OCs for the purpose of the story. Enjoy) - Mojo1586

IN PREPARATION

**_-Joel-_**

Damn it, here I am again, same torn clothes, screams everywhere, the smell of smoke was new and so was the space around me, instead of darkness I found myself in a burning ballroom, at least it looked like a ballroom. I turned around and just like the times before the girl in the torn blue dress stood there staring at me sadly, I could barely make out her face but it seemed clearer than before. "I've been here every night since I woke up in that alley, now tells me what's going on, who are you? Is this some memory or is it something else?

"I'm sorry" the girl whispered still staring at me.

"For what! Sorry for what!" I yelled taking a step towards her when a howl cut through the dream and a searing pain tore across my back. I sat up suddenly with a loud roar before realizing I was in some sort of infirmary the burning scene around me as well as the pain gone.

"Joel, Joel it's okay, you're safe!" I turned as a hand grasped firmly on my shoulder to find Blake staring intently back at me. Suddenly it all came back, the forest, the strange Beowolf, the ruins.

"Right, sorry." I leaned against the headboard, trying to calm down. "I'm good now, just a nightmare." I told her, though she still looked worried.

"That must have been some nightmare, to make you react like that." She said taking back her hand and sitting down on a chair that sitting next to the bed. How long has she been sitting there? I wondered looking at her, she seemed tired.

"I must've passed out, what happened?" I asked realizing for the first time that all my stuff was gone and I was wearing nothing but my torn up jeans and a light bandage on my shoulder, the other wounds were almost healed looking days old already. Blake nodded and reached down to bring up a large bundle from beneath the bed. Inside were my weapons, a sleeveless shirt and some sandals.

"Your clothes didn't fare nearly as well in the forest as you did, your coat might make it but we had to rip your shirt to get at your shoulder." She said as I looked over the clothes, the shirt had a design which must've been for some band, she seemed worried about something, maybe about my reaction.

"Achieve Men?" I said looking at the print on the shirt cocking an eyebrow in her direction. Blake shrugged.

"It's Yang's, she loves them." She noted as I tried it on, it was a little tight but it would do for a while until I got something else, she burst out laughing as I looked down at myself frowning. "I thought you wouldn't approve but we checked and this was the only thing your size we had, we can check with some friends of ours in the morning, we also might be able to run down to Vytal for some shopping if you're up to it, make a day of it."

"Sounds fun." I said, stretching. "So from the sound of it, it looks like I passed initiation." I noted with a grin.

"Yeah, technically you weren't supposed to see me and Yang at all but given certain circumstances..." She smiled ruefully at me, yeah definitely worth fighting a Beowolf for, "Professor Ozpin made an exception, welcome to Beacon Joel."

"Glad to be here. So what happens now, classes, uniforms, homework, what's up?" I asked shedding the shirt off wincing a bit, it fit, but was a bit constricting on the shoulder. Again the worried look crossed her face, Shit! Come on man she's a girl. "Sorry, uh, I can keep it on just, sorry." I said quickly grabbing for the shirt again but she shook her head.

It's okay it's not that", she said looking at my back grimacing. "Joel does your back hurt, or anything like that, while you were fighting maybe?"

"No, well actually it was sort of aching while I was in the forest; I thought I just landed badly during my fall. What, is something up?" I craned my neck trying to check. Blake pointed to a wall mounted mirror a short way away from the bed. I got up, feeling a little shaky and moved to the mirror, Blake followed quietly. "Blake" I said quietly, looking at the web of heavy scarring, "What the hell is this?"

"We were hoping you knew." She answered softly. The doctors ran some tests but we're pretty sure they were caused by a Beowolf"

"Why wouldn't they have healed, most of my cuts from today are just about gone, even this shoulder will be good in a day or two. Why not these?"

"Aura can only do so much, more serious wounds still scar occasionally, the doctors were amazed that you could have survived them at the time, let alone that they would have healed enough for you to fight.

Most people probably would have freaked out, however looking at these just made me angry, and a little bit sad for some reason, and then it came to me. "It was real." I whispered.

"What's real?" I looked around shocked, how did she hear that? She stood there looking at me expectantly.

I hesitated rubbing the back of my head. "Well there's this dream I've been having, its been getting clearer as I keep seeing it, but tonight was the worst, I'm dressed like I got mauled at a party but the place is in ruins." She nodded her head eagerly urging me on. "Anyway, near the end of it I heard a howl and something hit me in the back. Then I wake up" Blake frowned, I wanted to tell her more like the girl, hell, she could probably tell there was more. For some reason I just couldn't, the girl just felt too...personal.

Blake walked over to sit on the bed, "Maybe it's a memory, I've read books where something similar happens. Traumatic memories from the past expressing themselves in the subconscious. Through dreams." She added seeing my confusion. "And what you told sounds like it qualifies as traumatic."

"Damn, if that's real..." I put my head in my palms sighing. What am I forgetting damn it, why is she sorry.

"Joel" she moved forward off the bed hesitantly.

I stopped her with a hand and moved to a sink near the bed. Wetting my hands I splashed my head coming up breathing heavily hair and face dripping. "Ah...I'll be good, Ozpin's helping me now and the dream is getting more vivid which has to be a good sign, we'll figure it out in time. Now what are we doing tomorrow?

**_-Ozpin-_**

"...and the weapons he had in his possession appear custom made from high quality materials. The bullets for the gun are unregistered and are likely self-made as well." Glynda finished the preliminary report curtly.

"So I take it there no leads on that front then?" I said still gazing out the window dominating the far side wall behind my desk with a view of the school and the far off Vytal, a small view of the world I worked to protect. "Nothing we can use to identify him"

She looked down to the report. "Sadly no, either he obtained his equipment off official records or made them himself. If we follow the second course it's likely he received the materials and training required at one of the combat schools."

"Send an inquiry to all combat schools affiliated with Beacon to search past student files, someone like him would be noticed."

"Already done." I smiled lightly, how would this academy would have survived without her.

"And how are his evaluations?" I asked sipping from the steaming cup in my hand.

"Judging from what we've seen, combat wise he shows incredible skill at both close and long range, his Aura level is also impressive however it seems very emotionally driven as we noted before, anger being the most influential. He seems to specialize in enhancing his physical attributes. Psychologically he is stable and functioning considering his condition, however his attitude and recklessness fighting Grimm makes him unpredictable in a team setting though the events of today demonstrate he cares about those he views as friends. He does seem to prefer fighting alone however."

"Maybe he's just never had a team to fight alongside." I stated taking another sip. What about his physical results."

"Physically he's healthy, Aura flow is stable, he does possess heavy scarring extending from shoulders to lower back that concerned the medical examiner, but they do little to undermine his effectiveness. He's able."

"What do you suggest then professor?" I asked thinking over my options.

"He certainly is an asset, but I would recommend that he act as support for existing teams, at least until we get a better idea of his background it would also give him experience working in different settings." I nodded as she continued "It also make it easier to remove him if his past becomes an issue."

"Very pragmatic as always Glynda, good, I agree. Have him start classes in the coming week and get him a uniform, Team RWBY can get him up to speed. We also have some empty rooms in the first year dormitories, have him settle there until further notice.

"Yes professor" she nodded tucking the notepad under her arm, adjusting her spectacles and walking out of the room quickly.

"It seems I was right" I said quietly to myself, "this is indeed shaping up to be an interesting year."

**_-Joel- _**

It's amazing just how much is involved with shopping, especially when you have four girls doing it for you. No that wasn't fair, Ruby and Blake were buying my supplies, it was Yang and Weiss who were getting into it with the clothes shopping. Turns out Team JNPR was out and wouldn't be back till the next day so I couldn't borrow any clothes from them so shopping trip it was.

Ozpin had given me a fair amount, not much but fair, to obtain what I needed, I wasn't sure this is what he had in mind.

"Joel try these on right now!" Weiss ordered pushing yet another pile into my hands and dragging me back to the changing room for what felt like the hundredth time.

"Weiss the professor only gave me so much, we can't buy out the store!" I shouted trying not to trip on the discarded clothes.

"If I'm to be seen with you, you will look presentable, not like some delinquent off the street! Besides if we go over budget my family will cover it, you can pay me back eventually I'm sure."

"No fucking w... Yang, no more swimsuits!"

"You might have to swim Joel, you don't know, oh this is cute!" The blonde ducked behind the rack squealing before I could stop her. "What do you think Joel?"

"That Achieve Men is looking a hell of a lot better now that I think about it." I muttered softly right as a sweater hit me in the face.

"I like how blue works with those white streaks but this shirt is too small again! Why are you so tall you big dummy!?"

"Well Weiss I know I have memory issues but I do know that when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much..."

"Don't be a smartass, it doesn't suit you." She said sizing me up again.

"Kill me now, someone, please just... Yang, that's a skirt."

"I know, you think I'll look good in it? Joel?" She asked as I turned and slammed my head into the wall, mostly out of exasperation, partly in an attempt to knock myself out.

**_(Hours later)_**

When we finally walked out of that damn store just as the sun was starting to dip under the horizon. I was laden with bags along with a large plastic sack slung over my shoulder. "I still don't know why I need a tux" I said shifting the weight around uncomfortably.

"Formal events and the like should be expected and you need to be prepared, plus do you know how lucky we were to find one in your size? Seriously, with height like yours you should have some bulk."

"She's right you know, you are a bit lean." Yang called back happily, "You obviously weren't eating much before meeting us were you.

"Give me any more bags and I'll just fine in the bulk department." I growled, hefting the heavy bags, "Why am I carrying all this, most of this is yours anyway?"

"Because you're gentlemen and you're too polite to allow two beautiful girls, who pretty much dressed you I might add, to overexert themselves, isn't that right Yang." Weiss said offhand with a sly smile to Yang who nodded grinning back at me.

"Much too polite for that Weiss, I agree." Okay, no new clothes were worth this though I had to admit the two had done a nice job. I now had a comfortable blue long sleeve with covered with black lightning designs.

"I get it, thanks." I said sheepishly.

"Don't mention it, not every day you get to shop around with the teacher's money, also Ruby said she'd be working on some stuff for you as well, so she's already back at the school. We're just looking for Blake now...ah! There she is." She waved an arm and ran in the direction of a large fountain. Blake was sitting on the edge of the water looking intently at some thread and a ball of yarn which she hastily stuffed in a small bag and stood up when she saw us coming. "Sorry we're late, you get everything?"

"Yeah, we're good, pens, paper, stuff like that. Joel are you okay?" She asked as I staggered into view."

"Peachy" I grunted, to be honest I was pretty out of it, before the doctor let me out of her care she told me I'd feel some exhaustion for a while, something about my Aura replenishing itself after heavy use by drawing off my natural energy or something like that. I'd be fine but I'd been wolfing down every meal I'd had since as if it were my last. "Don't worry Blake, I'm good."

"If you say so." She looked me up and down and nodded her head approvingly. "You look nice, seems these two did their jobs." The two in question grinned smugly; Blake leaned in closer and whispered, "How bad was it?"

"Never again, never, next time your helping me out." I muttered as quietly as I could.

She wagged a finger at me disapprovingly, "Don't let there be a next time okay."

I let out a short laugh, "Believe me I've had enough of this. Anyway aren't we going to want to get moving soon?" Weiss looked down at her scroll and panicked.

"Guy's! The last airship to Beacon leaves in 10 minutes!"

With collective curses the girls started running for the station, leaving me hobbling behind shouting after them. In a few minutes all four of us were panting and laughing as the ship left the station.

**_(Armory)_**

The first thing I noticed walking into academies armory was the noise, the whirring of tools and the clanging of metal on metal. "Ruby!" I cried out, my voice barely audible over the din. There were a few students milling around, repairing or forging weapons and armor.

I found the red head at one of the work desks wearing a pair of goggles, hair tied back, fiddling with something, I could see sparks and flashes flying as she worked but she seemed to know what she was doing. As I approached she handed what seemed to be a metal arm over to large student in coveralls.

"The reaction rates been raised, it'll be a bit twitchy until he learns to compensate for the new Dust servomotors." She commented pointing out specific parts. The big student nodded and moved past me as she turned to face me beaming. "Hey Joel, shopping go okay?"

"Uh yeah it went well, was that an arm?" I asked looking over my shoulder.

"Yep!" she said proudly crossing her arms and nodding. "It's for an upperclassman, I've seen pictures but I never dreamed I'd actually get to work on such an advanced prosthetic. It uses a combination of Dust and Aura to fully compensate for…" She glanced in my direction and laughed awkwardly scratching the back of her head and grinning at me. "Sorry I tend to freak out over this stuff."

"No" I said shaking my head quickly, "It's alright, I'm just shocked, Yang told me you like this sort of thing but still, that's incredible."

"All students at Signal, the school me and Yang went to, learn to forge their own equipment, I've always been a little overzealous with it but..." she looked up to me eyes gleaming, if my work helps people then it's worth it you know?"

"Definitely, you must be talented." I nodded, she looked down embarrassed, I remembered the reason I'd come down here, "Yang said you were working on something for me?"

"Yeah, give me a sec." She reached around and brought out a pair of black gloves with what looked like a blue and silver square on the back of the hand and small bits of metal along the palm and fingers "Hold out your hands"

I did as she said, the gloves felt heavier then they looked as she slid them on but weren't unpleasantly so. "What are these?" I asked flexing my palms and closing my fingers experimentally getting a feel for them.

"Focus your Aura on your hands" she said looking hopeful. I tried, it was rough at first and took more effort than before but in a few seconds I felt the surge of energy flow through me. I imagined that energy flowing out into my hands when the metal on the gloves whirred suddenly, spreading outwards and wrapping along the length of my forearms. In less than 5 seconds I was wearing what looked like a pair of blue and silver gauntlets. "It worked! Hah! Yes, I knew I had it right!" She cried out excitedly grabbing my hand to double check the fit.

"Awesome" I asked looking at my free hand in amazement. Extended, the gauntlets felt light as air, If I closed my eyes I'd barely notice the difference.

"I based the design off Yang's Ember Celica but a lot simpler, it should provide extra protection and increase the strength of your hands depending on how much Aura you let out." She explained reaching out for a small rounded whetstone from one of the shelves, "Try them out."

I took the stone from her and looked at it, it felt solid enough through the gauntlet. Ruby nodded encouragingly, I began to squeeze the stone focusing my Aura into my hand. The stone began to crack under the pressure until it shattered, easy as breaking a twig. "Yeah, definitely awesome." I said as I ground the pieces into dust.

"I've tempered the alloy on your weapons so you don't end up breaking them by mistake, unfortunately they'll be a bit heavier now, I put them up in your room. Oh, and you should probably practice some control exercises, break them in, don't want to hurt anyone accidentally, right?"

"Will do" I punched the air a couple time before releasing my Aura, the gauntlets retracted quickly back in their gloved form. "Thanks Ruby, it means a lot."

She shrugged smiling lightly, "Hey as team leader for RWBY, I should be thanking you for helping out Yang and Blake in the forest, you didn't have too."

"I just did what I thought was best at the time, I wasn't really thinking clearly." I shot back.

"You were thinking of your teammates, that what's important, it shows something about you." She said calmly, I just looked at her quizzically, "What, did I say something weird?" She asked cocking her head to one side.

"No, I was just thinking how mature you can be sometimes; just hard to believe you're the youngest." I stated leaning against the wall.

Ruby shrugged "Have to be don't I? I'm a leader?"

"Yeah, and shaping up to be a good one too, least in my opinion." I said waving as I exited the room leaving the young girl to her work.

-end

A/N: Hey guys, I hope you're enjoying the story so far and I'm thankful for all the support. I am going to have to stagger the release schedule a bit because of some stuff I've been neglecting and the semester starting back up again. I'm still working on the story and I will try to get back on a regular beat as soon as I can. Your support is what makes this easy and fun to do, Thank You again.


	5. Chapter 5

THE FIRST DAY

**_-Joel-_**

"Damn" I muttered as a light rapping on my door woke me up. It wasn't as if I was going to be getting much rest with that memory playing each time I slept, but no one wants to get up for Mondays I suppose. "I'm coming, just a sec, I shouted at the door as I stumbled off the bed nearly tripping over some of the bags lying around the floor, should probably get around to cleaning up in here. Ozpin's staff had taken out the other three beds somehow but had done little else in the way of furnishing. Shaking my head and sighing and made my way through the clutter and pulled open the door to reveal a tall girl with long red hair pulled back into a ponytail and vividly green eyes standing next to a bow with messy blonde hair hanging in front of his face. "Uh, good morning...?"

"Hello you must be Joel, Ruby's told us about you, my names Jaune, Jaune Arc" he held out a hand.

I stared at the hand for a second before my brain kicked in. "Right!" I palmed my head "You guys are Team JNPR, from across the hall, right? I shook his hand and turned to the girl questioningly, "They let me know about you, so you must be Pyrrha."

"That's right" she nodded shaking my hand as well. Me and Jayne we're on our way to class and thought we'd say hello, and thank you for what you did during your initiation."

"So they told you about that did they?" I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly, "I just did what anyone else would have done."

"Don't sell yourself short, if your even half as skilled as Yang makes you out to be then you must be quite the warrior." Pyrrha noted with a smile, "Regardless, according to the headmaster you are to act as support for existing teams, so it's likely we will work together soon."

"Oh and we know about your...um." Jaune cut in tapping his head with a finger, "and we want you to know you can depend on us if you need help with anything."

"No problem, I look forward to working with you guys." I thanked the two as they walked off. Shutting the door I sat back on my bed thinking to myself, "Well they seem nice at least...wait they said something about classes right, Ozpin said classes started at...shit!" According the clock display on my scroll, my first class was in fifteen minutes! Swearing myself out for not setting an alarm, I quickly scrambled into the uniform Ozpin had delivered last night, bursting out of the room pulling the sweater over my head and rushing off in the direction I'd seen Pyyrha and Jaune walk a minute earlier. "Grimm studies, where is Grimm studies, crap, look out!" As I was running a girl walked out of one of the other dorm rooms not seeing me coming.

"Huh?" The girl looked up just in time to yell in surprise. I managed to slow down but I couldn't avoid a collision that sent us both falling towards the floor. It hurt but I managed to twist under her and cushion her fall landing hard on the stone floor.

I must have blacked out for a moment, as I laid their groaning I felt something soft rubbing against my face. I reached over to brush it away but as I touched whatever it was the girl let out a squeak. Coming to my senses, I opened my eyes I found the both of us sprawled in the middle of the hallway her...ears, Two long brown ears, like a rabbit's protruding from the top of her head from beneath long similarly colored hair, a short way away from my face. She jumped away red faced clutching at them; I stared from my hand to her face for a few seconds, feeling the blood rush to my face. "Shit!" I stammered getting quickly to my feet, the girl, a Faunus I realized, judging by the ears backed away from me fearfully, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean too... I tried to stop I swear!" I spat out a steady stream of apologies as she gazed at me. I forced myself to calm down, "Listen, I'm sorry, I was late to class and wasn't careful, you okay?"

The girl hesitated but nodded slowly, I breathed a sigh of relief, "That's good; sorry about your ears did I hurt them or something?"

"It's alright!" She said quickly, "I just got scared you were going to... Never mind forget it" She looked down quickly.

"Well, uh, anyway my names Joel I'm..."

"The new student right, there was an announcement on the scrolls about it" the girl finished. So I guess everyone knows about me now."

"Yeah that's me" I looked at the clock again, "You wouldn't happen to know where Grimm studies is, would you? I'm a bit lost and I've got no idea how to use the map on this thing." I held up my scroll.

"Sure I'm in that class as well; I wanted to finish a letter for home before heading there." She pulled an envelope from her pocket and showed it to me. "If you need help I can take you, if that's okay I mean."

"Definitely, thank you..."

"Velvet, Velvet Scarlatina" she gave me a small smile and a nod which I returned.

"Nice to meet you Velvet"

The trip to class was all in all very pleasant, Velvet helping me with my scroll and pointing out different classrooms as we passed until coming to a stop at a large room leading into a packed Lecture Hall. "And here we are Grimm Studies." Velvet announced turning to me. "Ah…It looks like we're a bit late but Professor Port is really nice, we won't be in too much trouble."

"Hey it was my fault anyway; I'll take the blame for anything that comes." I grinned trying to reassure her. "Now we better get in there." I moved to open the door when I felt a hand move to stop me. I turned to find Velvet staring intently at the floor. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to thank you for being so nice to me" she announced quietly, "A lot of people wouldn't, given what I am. Most people just assume Faunus are all like the White Fang, an anti-human group," she noted quickly seeing my confusion, "and hate us because of it." The name White Fang stirred something as she said it but I couldn't put my finger on it, anyway that could wait till later.

"I don't judge people on stuff like that, all in all we're not so different, there's good and bad people, both human and Faunus, you seem like a good person to me, no reason I can't return the favor." It wasn't a great speech but seemed to put her at ease and we entered the classroom together.

The room itself was large with tiered seats facing the opposite wall which featured a large board accompanied by what seemed to be antique diagrams of different Grimm creatures along with a strange looking axe like weapon mounted on a headboard. A large elderly man in a fine burgundy suit sporting an impressive moustache was standing at the head of the room, giving a speech in a booming voice."

"...and it was at that moment I chose to grab life just as I did a fearsome boarbatusk in my youth, by the..." He paused looking over in our direction as the door closed behind us. "Ah our latecomers arrive at last; I can understand it of our new student but Miss Scarlatina you should know better." Velvet gave a small squeak but I stepped forward shaking my head.

"That was my fault Professor Port." The man raised an eyebrow at me but I pressed on "I was hopelessly lost, no one showed me how to use the scroll, when I ran into Velvet here who graciously offered to help me out, and I'd be even later if it wasn't for her." Velvet gave me a surprised look; the professor gave a huff before clapping his hands together.

"Well if that's true, I suppose I can let you both off with a warning, I presume you know better now young man?" I nodded quickly, "And you Miss Scarlatina" Velvet jumped up straight "I would like to commend you for taking the initiative to help a fellow Hunter in need. Now find some open seats the both of you." He turned back to face the class, Velvet waved a quick good bye and moved quickly to an open seat near the back, I quickly spotted Yang motioning to a seat on her right next to Blake, I bowed my head at the professor before taking it.

Yang nudged my arm with a grin and a wink, "So you got lost with Velvet wouldn't have seen that coming, nice work talking your way out of trouble by the way."

I shot her a glare, "Wouldn't have gotten lost if you guys had woken me up in the first place."

She shrugged sheepishly, "We tried, for five minutes banging on your door, bit of a heavy sleeper aren't you? Anyway we thought you'd left for class early and came here."

"Well, I owe Jaune and Pyrrha one, they woke me up."

"And Velvet?" She said motioning to the Faunus taking notes in the back.

"I told you I just ran into her, literally, lucky for me though; she's really nice and offered to lead me here."

"Yeah she is a great person" Blake said nodding, "it's a shame most people don't bother to see anything past the ears." It was shocking hearing her sound so bitter, she noticed me staring and smiled "I'm glad to see you're one of the better ones." I could feel my face coloring and quickly focused on the professor who I noticed was watching me as he spoke.

"And that class is how you deal with a Beowulf pack. Now Mr. Joel!"

I perked up quickly, sitting up straight. "Yes professor!"

"I've been informed by the headmaster regarding your background as have the other students, but I am more interested in hearing from the source, tell us, why are you here at Beacon?" I could feel the whole classroom eyeing me curiously. I hesitated but felt a reassuring pat on my shoulder; I turned to find Blake nodding at me. Breathing in deep I stood up and looked around the class.

"Well, I'm not sure what it is exactly you've all heard, the headmaster offered me a place here in return for helping me learn about my past, honestly I have little to no recollection of anything earlier than three days ago, I actually was directed here by the ones who found me. I just want to know who I am and Beacon seemed the best for me in the meantime." Professor Port nodded and motioned for me to sit down.

"Well in my professional opinion young man, anyone who can survive a trip into the Emerald Forest and go toe to toe with a Beowolf Alpha is certainly Huntsman material." Whispers and stifled conversations arose at the mention of the Beowolf but I just tried to ignore them, though Port's praise did feel nice even if the rest of the class dragged long.

The next class focused on personal defense and combat techniques and was being overseen by Professor Goodwitch, unlike Grimm Studies which was primarily a lecture class, this was something physical so I thought I might be okay, I was wrong so very wrong.

"Come on Joel! I thought you told us you could do hand to hand, or was that just boasting?" Yang taunted hands spread out as I picked myself up off the mat groaning. When Yang had been assigned as my sparring partner I'd been happy I was put with a friend, now though after getting flipped, kicked, and thrown halfway across the training area, I was rethinking my good fortune a bit.

"Told you it comes and goes." I croaked out weakly, I'd been using my Aura to block the worst of it but her blows still felt like they came from hammers instead of fists. My chest felt like one big bruise.

"Then learn how, you've never had a problem before." She said pushing her mane of hair over her shoulders and rotating her arm, "Maybe it's your attitude, get angry."

Angry, whenever I fought, I did seem to get better the angrier I got. "I'll try, just be prepped okay." As we began again I tried focusing on what made me angry before, Beowolves and other Grimm made me angry, as the thought crossed my mind I caught one of Yang's fists as it flew towards my stomach, she twisted out of my grasp with an adrenaline filled smile on her face leaping out of my range.

"Good try, you're anticipating more, keep it up!" She then sidestepped coming at me from the side even faster than before placing me on the defensive while leaping and darting away deftly every time I struck. Okay not enough, need to add the pressure on a little more. I thought back to when Blake was at that monsters feet injured, suddenly the image blurred, another girl at its feet, in a burning room, howls enerywhere. With a roar I grabbed Yang's fist again, twisting to prevent her from pulling away again and swept her legs out from under her, fist raised to strike.

"Joel!" Was that Blake's voice, I paused.

Suddenly Yang's eyes glowed red as and with a cry she knocked me over with a sweep of her own rolling away as I toppled over landing hard. As we lay on the ground panting I found myself coming to my senses, I was going too "Holy shit Yang, I don't..." Then I realized the blonde was actually laughing. "Yang?"

"Holy shit is right, I think we've found your trigger" she sat up slowly stretching before giving me a thumbs up. "That was the best fight I've had in years no question, want to go ag…" she paused eyes narrowing, I followed her eye until I made out a few fine gold spun strands of hair lying on the mat where I'd thrown her.

"Uh, Yang?" I became suddenly aware of everyone else backing away quickly, having stopped their own fights. When Ruby ran forward from where she and Blake had been practicing.

"Run Joel!" She screamed, I turned and saw red and a flash of gold.

**_(Lunch)_**

"You know once, just once! I'd like to be warned about something before it happens." I muttered darkly nursing a bruise on my cheek. The whole table laughed while Yang just simmered stroking her hair. "Seriously, I can forgive the launch pad in the forest but no one thought it might be nice to mention "Hey you know Yang, don't mess with her hair, she'll kick your ass and go nuts." to the new guy?"

"Sorry Joel, we forgot, we kind of just assumed everyone knew." Jaune said through a mouthful of food before swallowing at a look from Pyyrha, "Same thing happened with me, wasn't pretty, though mine was more of an accident."

"The bruises will heal right up" Ruby said optimistically.

"Anyway, Joel you were a little off near the end there." Weiss noted "Mind explaining that, you went completely crazy.

"I fought angry, something traumatic must have bled through, set me off you know." I replied starting on my meatloaf. I knew exactly what had bled through, the image had been haunting me ever since.

"If what's in your head makes you act like that maybe you're better off without." Blake said, she cocked her head, "Just a thought."

"Maybe, anyway Yang, I'm sorry for messing with your hair." Yang shot me a stern look that thankfully softened up.

"It's all good, it was a great fight and I would like to go again, touch the golden locks again though and I will crush you with no mercy." The table laughed, me included, however I could see from Yang's expression that she was serious. Actually the only one not laughing was Blake who was staring at me with a curious expression.

**_(Later that night)_**

A sharp knock on my door woke me from my self-induced stupor, I'd spent the last few hours since classes had ended trying to catch on some of the information. Problem with this selective memory was that I didn't know if I actually knew about a subject until it came up, which meant reading from the textbooks and trying to jog something. I seemed to be getting the most out of Grimm Studies and a bit of history but most everything else was a blank. Sighing I closed the book and moved to the door, finding Blake standing in the hall.

"Uh, hey Blake" I said rubbing my eyes wearily, "Did you want something?"

"Just a chat." She stepped into the room as I shut the door behind her and spun to face me. "We need to talk about what happened in that gym."

"I told you earlier, I just lost it okay." I said shaking my head but Blake just glared at me. "I've got it under control now."

"Maybe you have it controlled right now but if I hadn't said anything..." She started before I cut her off.

"Yang's fine, just what, three hairs down from the experience, she handled herself okay, besides I don't intend to let something like that happen again."

"But what did happen?" She asked sitting on my bed. "Yang might think it was a fun fight but if you had fought anyone else... Joel you might have seriously injured someone."

"Why do you want to know so badly, I just..."

"I want to know because it's my friends that could get hurt, and maybe I want to help you because you saved me, either way I want to help you because you're a good person and it's obviously messing with you." She stated firmly, eyes flashing "You ditch us all as soon as you can and hole up here away from everyone and I want to know why and help you deal with it."

"Blake you don't owe me anything and I'm not going to ask you to be my shrink." I replied slumping into a desk chair, hand on my forehead. "Besides I'd rather not talk about it to tell you the truth, barely understand it myself."

"If it helps just think of it as confiding in a friend. Is it the dream again the one you told me about?" She asked leaning forward. "And this time I want the full story, no omitting anything."

**-End**

**A/N: Hey everyone thanks for reading, things are a little hectic right now in life but I think I have it under control. Things are picking up in the story I promise. **


End file.
